CBS News did everything it could to kill correspondent Katherine Herridge's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop just weeks before the 2020 election, an award-winning investigative journalist has claimed.
In a bombshell statement, Herridge allegedly told CBS News executive Ingrid Cyprian Matthews and CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell in early October 2020 that her laptop contained “a message from a Chinese energy company. It was revealed that he had submitted evidence that contained material related to a $1 million informant. ” along with business texts and emails from Democratic challenger Joe Biden's son.
But later that month, Herridge was shocked to see 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl say she “couldn't see” the laptop during a tense interview with then-President Donald Trump. He wrote that he received it.
“Watching the broadcast made me sick,” Herridge, who was controversially fired from Tiffany Networks in February, wrote Sunday night in his recently launched book. Newsletter.
“I knew I could review the laptop records and see.”
She said she was surprised that 60 Minutes, which came under fire last month for allegedly editing Vice President Kamala Harris' comments to avoid “word salad” responses about Middle East conflicts, was not working with its news department. added. to confirm her report.
There was such a “disconnect” between the two organizations, she said.
Before Stahl's segment aired, she was contacted by Cyprian-Matthews and asked if she had “confirmed coverage” of the Hunter Biden article on O'Donnell's broadcast.
Herridge said her extensive reporting included “calling and contacting individuals associated with Hunter Biden's emails for corroboration and cross-referencing court records.” He assured the executives.
“I told Mr. Cyprian-Matthews that the documents reviewed included $1 million in loans from a Chinese energy company, emails with Hunter Biden's former business partner Tony Bobulinski; “It contained text messages,” she said.
“Cyprian-Matthews asked me if I had any 'Hunter connections,' and I said, 'Yes, everything,'” she wrote.
Mr Herridge said he then provided some of the records he reviewed directly to Mr Cyprian-Matthews.
However, her report was never broadcast.
“At this point we don't know what happened,” Herridge said.
The journalist said he found it odd, based on his experience with the network, that CBS News did not direct its investigative division in October 2020 to develop further reporting on the laptop.
“That would have been standard practice,” Herridge wrote.
The Post was the only mainstream publication at the time to report that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden, leading to a ban on the story by social media giants Facebook and Twitter.
It took another two years for CBS to air the forensic examination of Hunter Biden's laptop data. By then, Cyprian-Matthews had been promoted to president of CBS News.
Herridge said she continued to stand by her report on the laptop, saying it “determined that both data belonged to Hunter Biden and had not been tampered with.”
“Our report aired in November 2022, after the midterm elections,” Herridge said.
The Post has reached out to CBS News for comment.
Herridge was fired earlier this year amid significant layoffs at the network and parent company Paramount Global. CBS News confiscated press materials upon Herridge's departure.
Sources close to the situation claimed that the decision to keep her file was made by Cyprian-Matthews. The files were returned several days later under pressure from the union representing Herridge.
Earlier this year, the Post revealed that Cyprian-Matthews was accused of sidelining a white journalist and interfering with Herridge's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop.
executives suddenly resigned He took over in August, before moving to senior adviser for 2024 presidential election coverage. She plans to leave the company after the election.
